Political Prisoner Amirhossein Mousavi Sentenced to Death for Online Activism

According to lawyer Reza Shafakhah, his client “Amirhossein Mousavi has been sentenced to death on the charge of efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through his online activity on the Twitter account 'James Bi-Dean.’” The 40-year-old political prisoner who is currently detained in Evin Prison, was arrested with his wife on 18 December 2024. According to HRANA News Agency, the sentence was issued by “Death Judge” Salavati who presides over Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.

On 6 October 2025, his forced confessions were broadcast on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 during the 20:30 news programme. The state narrative alleged that Amirhossein operated an espionage and psychological warfare network on behalf of Israel's Mossad under the online pseudonym 'James the Faithless' (James Bi-Dean). Citing his alleged confessions and intelligence sources, it is alleged that Amirhossein initially established fictitious accounts on X (Twitter) to incite anti-government sentiment and coordinate street unrest during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” nationwide protests through an initiative dubbed 'One Hundred Neighbourhoods.' Saberin News claimed that following the collapse of the protests, his network pivoted to espionage after being linked to Israeli intelligence through an intermediary in Australia and an operative known as 'Avi'. The report further alleged that Amirhossein was tasked with gathering and transmitting sensitive intelligence on air defence sites, military installations and Law Enforcement Special Units, and that he subsequently disseminated satellite imagery and explosion aftermath footage following Israeli military strikes to advance foreign psychological operations prior to his arrest by the Ministry of Intelligence.

The following day, Amirhossein responded to the airing of his coerced confessions with a statement from Evin Prison:

“Greetings to the noble people of my homeland, Iran.

I am Amirhossein Mousavi (the Twitter user "James the Faithless"), who was arrested on 18 December 2024 and has been detained in prison ever since. On 6 October 2025, a report about me was broadcast on the 20:30 news programme containing numerous allegations, all of which are entirely false. I therefore considered it essential to share the facts with the noble people of my country.

Throughout my "temporary" detention, I had sealed my lips and had no intention of speaking about my case until my trial (the date of which was only recently served on me as 2 November 2025). However, last night's broadcast made assertions that did not contain a grain of truth, prompting me to exercise my legitimate right to defend myself and break my silence.

1. Right from the outset, the title of the report states: ‘How the Zionists used monarchist elements’ during the 12-day war…’ As stated, the date of my arrest was 18 December 2024, roughly six months before that alleged war. How could this claim possibly make sense?
2. After enduring 148 days of solitary confinement, the arrest of my wife, severe initial beatings and the agonising pressure of isolation and legal limbo, and facing threats of my wife being re-arrested alongside a recurrence of everything I had been put through, this coerced interview that formed the foundation of the 20:30 report was extracted from me. In that interview, almost every statement I made was dictated and forced upon me by the interrogator. Furthermore, as will be highlighted, even those coerced words were heavily spliced, distorted and manipulated before being aired by Islamic Republic state television.
3. In that report, the group known as ‘One Hundred Neighbourhoods’ was presented as one of the instigators of the 2022 protests, whereas this group did not even exist in 2022. It began producing critical content in April 2023 and was dissolved in October of that same year, more than a year prior to my arrest. Consequently, those social media pages had no connection whatsoever to the 2022 protests.
4. The report presents Ms Elaheh as an ‘agent of the Zionist regime.’ She was merely one ordinary friend among hundreds of friends on Twitter, and our communication was one among thousands of chats. There was absolutely no link between this woman and the Israeli regime; or if there was, I was unaware of it and harboured not the slightest suspicion. I had been friends with her on Twitter for a long time and, like any other acquaintance, she would comment on or discuss various topics with me. Splicing, pasting and stitching together fragments of our private exchanges (which, even in their edited form, clearly demonstrate an ordinary friendship) is dishonest and deeply dishonourable.
5. The report portrays the user ‘Avi’ as holding a rank above Elaheh, as though discussing military hierarchy. He is simply another active Twitter user. Having become acquainted with him, I joined a three-way chat with him on only one occasion.
6. According to the reporter, the user Avi passed the intelligence obtained from me directly to Mossad, whereas I never gave him any information whatsoever. I stress: not even public information. If any evidence exists to the contrary, I would welcome its publication. My acquaintance with him began solely because Elaheh introduced him as an ordinary Israeli citizen critical of his government. The chat logs proving this exist.
7. The reporter's claim that I was asked whether ‘targeting air defences, nuclear facilities, military installations or which specific locations would plunge society into turmoil’ is completely untrue. Fundamentally, I believe that Israel's decisions to strike targets in Iran are the result of extensive, independent research, not of one Twitter user asking another user's opinion and that opinion turning into a state's strategic military decision.
8. A heavily cut segment of my statements from the forced interview regarding security and police installations (such as the Special Units) was aired. Crucially, they deliberately omitted the fact that, as I made clear even during my confessions, I intentionally fed that user misleading information regarding the deployment of these forces and claimed ignorance of their locations. Even the printed logs of that exchange show that the moment the person typed the word ‘Mossad,’ I immediately terminated the chat and never communicated with them again. From that point on, it carried the stench of treason against my homeland, and as a devoted patriot, I have never been, and will never be, willing to betray my country.
9. In that report, a tweet of mine is shown with its date deliberately cropped out. That tweet was actually written after the Israeli strike in response to Operation True Promise II in the summer of 2024. Dissenting and critical Twitter users at that time, as during any confrontation, shared public satellite images both in jest and seriousness. None of those images contained confidential material. I simply took that satellite image from Twitter and reposted it; I had no access whatsoever to classified information or imagery.
10. In another falsehood, the reporter alleges the ‘provision of intelligence on sensitive military sites,’ when in fact I provided no information on this matter to any user. As mentioned, working in modest self-employment, I possessed no intelligence with which I could betray my country. I am merely an ordinary, dissenting citizen who believes in freedom.
11. Towards the end of this doctored report based on coerced interviews, the reporter claims that, following the provision of intelligence, I published the aftermath of the Israeli strike. The programme then shows footage of explosions from the strike to lead viewers into believing I played a role in disseminating those images. I must clarify that I have been in detention and solitary confinement since December 2024 and remain in Evin Prison today. During the 12-day war, like other inmates, I had no access to any media or social networks apart from state television broadcasts.
12. The reporter falsely asserts that publishing those pictures was my ‘final mission’ before being detained by the intelligence agents. What mission? The weight of that word is so heavy that it openly brands me an ‘agent.’ An agent of what organisation? For what money? As though I were an Israeli agent arrested after the 12-day war. I have said it before and will say it again: I have been in prison for nearly a year (six months of which were spent in solitary confinement and detention centres), having been arrested roughly six months before the 12-day war.
13. At the end of the report, two sentences from the forced interview were cut and spliced together: ‘Supporting Israel was the darkest thing I did’ and ‘If you ask me now how many were killed and injured, I don't know,’ implying that the second sentence referred to the 12-day war. Dear compatriots, that interview was recorded in May 2025, an entire month before the Israeli strike! The question I answered was literally: ‘Do you know how many were killed and injured during the Mahsa Amini events?,’ to which I replied that I did not know. This splicing and fabrication, even with their own coerced interview, seems to have only one purpose: to give viewers the impression that I hold myself responsible for the deaths of my compatriots in the Israeli attack. Heaven forbid.
14. The overall aim of this report and these forced confessions is to persuade the public that the intelligence services captured a ‘Mossad spy’ after the 12-day war, shifting the blame for their own failure to identify genuine Israeli spies onto an individual who has been held in legal limbo in prison for nearly a year. I, Amirhossein Mousavi ("James Bi-dean"), a son raised by the people of Iran, have had no intelligence exchanges with foreign entities, nor have I had any media involvement during this year in detention. I had remained silent so that my case could be examined in a calm and objective atmosphere. Yet they have presented someone who has not even stepped into a courtroom not as a defendant, but as a convicted criminal. Out of necessity, I have shared these facts with you. I have always considered myself your son; I gave voice to your pain. Today, I ask you to feel my pain through these words. This marks the conclusion of my first address to you, my fellow citizens and companions in grief. Finally, addressing IRIB and the executives of that news division, I remind them of their legal obligation under the Press Law to broadcast this defence on that same news programme. Should they refuse, I reserve my right to file a legal complaint against them.”
15.  

In an interview published by Emtedad on 13 October 2025, Amirhossein's defence lawyer also strongly condemned the state broadcast of his client's coerced confessions, stating that airing the footage before a trial constitutes "an explicit violation of Article 96 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which strictly prohibits and criminalises such conduct." Shafakhah clarified that the severe security charges brought against Amirhossein all stem from "a single act, namely social media activity" and argued that "merely one course of conduct, writing critical posts on this user account" has been unjustly multiplied into various national security offences. Revealing the circumstances of the broadcast, he noted that Amirhossein endured "extensive pressure and threats during solitary confinement" and that the video was recorded "solely in exchange for securing bail for his sick wife." Furthermore, Shafakhah accused security agents of conflating "fact and fabrication" to present "an inverted reality", pointing out that the bulk of the televised claims "does not even feature in the indictment issued by Branch 33 of the Tehran Prosecutor's Office." Emphasising that Amirhossein's actions were confined entirely to cyberspace, the lawyer concluded that the premature broadcast was designed "to sway the presiding judge and distract public attention" and reminded the authorities that "entrapment and luring citizens into criminal conduct is illegal, and evidence obtained through such methods lacks both religious and legal legitimacy."